As it's getting close to Nexus season, the rumors about Google's next phone are really starting to pile up. As are the leaks. And at this point, it can be really fun to hop on the speculation express to conclusion town. Dare I say, it's understandable. Even "Nexus 5" - a name that has been confirmed (even circumstantially) exactly zero times - seems to be such a concrete fact now that you'd have to be a moron not to believe that's what the next Nexus is going to be called, right? Is that probably a pretty good guess? Sure! More likely than not, even? I'd take that bet. But it goes to show that many Nexus rumors, such as the name of the product, have been subject to very little scrutiny. Because if no one knows the name, then no one has the right to tell another person that they're wrong about it and oh my god did you hear the Nexus 5 is going to have optical image stabilization? It's totally going to. And the case isn't glass anymore so it won't break and every phone comes with a KitKat bar.

Yes, I'm being a bit of an asshole about this, and I'm sorry. But sometimes, there are just some rumors that need a very direct, very blunt squashing. And this whole "Spigen case on Amazon = Nexus 5 release date" thing is one of them. Not just because it's speculative. Not just because it's totally sketchy as anything resembling a "reliable source." No, it's mostly because no one even bothered to look into it in any depth, and just went off the handle writing things because they could.

Oh look, a page about nothing.

You know what one hour and two emails to Spigen yielded? Concrete information! Huge surprise, right? Actually emailing a company and asking them about a product listing with their name on it. They'd never talk about something like that! I'm as shocked as you are. And do you know what that exchange revealed? Spigen doesn't know anything, at all. When asked about the "Nexus 5" case listings, Spigen's marketing rep, Richard Park, had this to say:

"Due to recent leaks we’re anticipating a Nexus 5 announcement shortly so we’ve put up place-holder listings in advance... 10/31 is just an estimated date that we’ve decided upon since we believe the Nexus 5 will be announced early October."

So yes, Spigen's product listing is talking out of its ass. You know, if product listings could speak. Or had butts. It is 100% pure unadulterated BS thought up by Spigen as a hype-building tactic to sell as yet non-existent cases for an as yet unannounced phone with an as yet unannounced release date. The stories posted about this whole thing have been exactly what Spigen wanted. Nobody goofed up (aside from the people posting about it), nobody "jumped the gun." No cats escaped bags. Spigen read some Nexus rumors, created a product listing with a fabricated release date based on those rumors to sell cases, and the tech community then swiftly obliged and jumped on those product listings as a new rumor corroborating its own, earlier speculation without actually doing anything resembling fact-checking to see if Spigen was full of it.

This is what needs to stop. Drawing conclusions based on direct evidence or believable circumstantial evidence, leaks, and reasonable extrapolation is one thing. That's a thing we like to do here, actually. A generic accessory listing on Amazon published by a 3rd party with no real reason to know / divulge a product's exact release date is not believable circumstantial evidence. It's a fairly blatant and sleazy marketing / SEO strategy. And giving this "story" a pass as "news," frankly, is a disgrace to tech journalism. It is lazy, counterproductive, and it helps exactly no one. Well, apart from Spigen. It's mindlessly regurgitated white noise that only serves to confuse and misinform people.

To be perfectly clear, it's entirely possible the next Nexus phone will launch in October. October or November are probably pretty good bets. But that doesn't mean it's open season on rumormongering every time a piece of sketchy evidence pops up falling in line with these guesses. Because that's what they are: guesses.

So please, I ask you: hold yourself to a higher standard. Ask for sources. Demand concrete evidence. Don't let naysayers browbeat you for ignoring "the obvious." No rumor is so obvious that it does not need to be questioned - that's what makes it a rumor.

Comments

Raj Bhatt

Speculation and rumors are half the fun when it comes to new devices. Perhaps the internet isn't the best place for you to read about Android? I hear the public library has plenty of things to read in print.

So journalistic integrity should go out the window because we live in the age of 4chan and any random BS that originated from nothing should get perpetuated and spread, giving people false hopes?

Matthew Fleisher

Guest? Eh, leave the troll alone.

Logan Butler

Three-lined reply, "false hope" mentioned, windows.

Half-Life 3 confirmed.

But really, you're right, Artem. If a news website, such as Android Police and the like, want to be taken seriously, jumping the gun on a mere shadow of a phantom of a rumor and posting it was news just makes them look silly.

No, but perhaps there is a decent middle ground to be found here... I agree with the OC to an extent. BS rumors and hypebeasting are part of the equation when dealing with new media. That is just a part of the game. That is what makes being "in the know" so much fun. When you really know the market you are talking about, it is kind of a cool feeling to understand the difference between what is legitimate and what is bullshit. AP does a great job of this, and one of the reasons you guys are my go to for new info...

The thing I do have a problem with is taking Spigen to task for engaging in perfectly acceptable and ethical behavior when trying to promote their product in the realm of the internet. So what if they listed a product they have not made yet, based on market hype? This is not some morally dubious claim, nor some con job. They are simply trying to catch a small edge in the market by being the first to do this. You cannot blame companies for wanting to know where the market is heading, and sometimes take a role in the driver seat. Sure that is goofy, and yes other sites reporting this as gospel is retarded, and any site that made that mistake should be taken to task, but Spigen has done nothing wrong here. At the end of the day, when I help my tech stupid cousin buy his new S4, he asks for a Spigen case by name. This is not a bad thing. It is good that there are companies actively fighting to be competitive in the realm of making peripherals for the operating system that we all have grown to love. This is just another form of free market competition, and that has been one of the greatest driving forces in making Android the powerhouse that it is today.

So Artem, please continue to call out the "reporters" who need to do a better job of being in the know, but I really don't think any benefit will come from trying to take to task companies that are fairly trying to participate in the open market. I'm sure Spigen is waiting for an apology...

I semi-see where you're coming from, and most of the blame should be with those blindly rumormongering, but Spigen has done several sleazy things in my book here too:
- They've been repeatedly using fake images, mocks, and placeholders, obviously without giving credit or clarifying it, thus purposely inciting rumors.
- They've used unconfirmed names for the same reasons.
- They've continuously released order pages purely for SEO reasons, planning to capitalize on the interest whereas other companies have waited until products are announced. Just look at their response in this post.

What they're doing is plain sleazy, and unfair to their competition. In fact, if Google, Samsung, etc were to actually share the design of the real products with them ahead of time, Spigen wouldn't be posting anything at all until it's go time, which just points to the fact that they're full of it, once again.

It is literally that. Spigen posted false information that it knew was false information. In most circles, claiming that a product will be available on a day that it will not actually be available (or that the manufacturer can't reasonably know it will be available), is a special kind of lie. Imagine if Target or Staples said the new Nexus 10 would be in stores on November 5th and you went in that day and could find no new Nexus 10s in sight. Not because they sold out, or because there was an inevitable delay, but because those stores just made shit up. You'd be pretty fucking pissed, wouldn't you?

The rumor mill does what it does and there's no stopping that (though AP sure as hell tries), but claiming that a manufacturer is faultless for placing false information online is just ridiculous. At best, it's reckless and stupid. And that's even assuming they didn't do it intentionally to cash in on the rumor mill. If they did, then it's the worst case: morally reprehensible and extraneously dickish.

Mayoo

Even if I completely agree with what you just said ... you just forgot rule #1 and rule #2!

"Lemon Meringue Pie!" =D That way he would end up with a pie again, just like with KLP.

cy_n_ic

Place holders...smh

Steve Freeman

Hey, everyone knows Amazon only allows a certain number of of product pages. They had to save their place!

Andrew

That's why I like AP. While most sites post every nonsense they could find on Internet, you actually do fact checking and solid journalistic work. Thank you.

iamnotfan

So true , one more thing i love in this site is comment section
No trolls, No die hard (stupid) fans.

hyperbolic

Trolls in 3....2....1.....

Balaal Ashraf

+1

Matthew Fry

I think it's a pretty big assumption that it will be called the Nexus 5. Yes the Nexus 4 was the 4th one but the naming scheme seems to be pretty clear. Nexus 4 = 4" Nexus 7 = 7" Nexus 10 = 10".

As much as I don't like names of subsequent devices being exactly the same as the previous ones, (like a particular fruit logo'd company) it looks like Google is doing it. They named themselves into a corner and it's confusing and stupid but the Nexus 7 now has 2 revisions with no difference in name leaving retailers to make it up. Nexus 7 2013. Nexus 7-2. Nexus 7 (2nd gen). Nexus 7 HD. More likely than not it will be the "New Nexus 4" and the "New Nexus 10."

cebrian

You know that this new nexus phone has a 5.0 inches screen right?

When you round 4.97 to two digits it's 5.0 not 4.9.

And screen sizes arw usually reported with only one decimal place.

Jdban

Your logic has no place here

Justin W

Drives me nuts how people don't see this. Yes, the Nexus 4 may have been the 4th iteration of the Nexus brand phone, but it is only a coincidence that it's the 4th iteration of the device - it's based on screen size, not generation. Otherwise, we would have had a two Nexus 1's last year.

Matthew Fry

Based on what data? What has Google released about the screen size?

Rounding certainly didn't deter them from calling the current Nexus phone the Nexus 4 with it's 4.7" screen. Based on your arbitrary rules of rounding it should have been the Nexus 5 too.

Thank you for this. I get rather annoyed when people assume rumors they read as fact. Worst of all, many will defend the rumor they read to the end. It's insane. If only one person reads this and doesn't post that "OMGZ the Nexus 5 is coming out on Halloween cuz Spigen said so," I'll be happy.

Thomas’

This is why i read Android Police and not a single German Android blog: they're all just full of crappy "leaks" and "rumors" which are obviously made up. But hey, they produce clicks.

Kehnin Dyer

The problem is that there are thousands of people at this exact moment typing "Nexus 5 news" into Google. (i do about 3-6 times a day...) and tech blogs know that. they are just trying to convert that interest into money...

So you're complaining that they put a product pre-listing up? Did you complain that the xbox one had a prelisting without a release date too?

Nathaniel_G

Nice try but Microsoft had officially announced the Xbox One. The "Nexus 5" or whatever it's going to be called isn't even official.

mgamerz

So you don't expect there to be a Nexus 5, or whatever it will be called.

Because pretty much everyone who cares about the next Nexus phone knows it exists. So why not make a product listing for a product that will come out for it when it's released.

It's not AP's fault that other media sites run on rumors.

Nathaniel_G

Since you didn't bother to read Artem's post I'm going to post the bullet points.

-They've been repeatedly using fake images, mocks, and placeholders, obviously without giving credit or clarifying it, thus purposely inciting rumors.
- They've used unconfirmed names for the same reasons.
- They've continuously released order pages purely for SEO reasons, planning to capitalize on the interest whereas other companies have waited until products are announced. Just look at their response in this post.

Microsoft didn't do any of that because it's their product and they had officially announced it.

What Ruddock doesn't realise is that Spigen already has actual dimension specifications (and a case ready for shipment), but are forced not to use them or real mock-ups due to NDA, with fan renders constituting a great place holder. And their dates aren't "coming out of their ass", they're based on what Google told accessory manufacturers; but guess what, they won't tell or confirm any of that to a blogger on email because THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY ON NDA.

But hey, thank god Ruddock is here to rage 500 words over bullcrap.
FYI, accessory manufacturers accidental leaks have historically been accurate almost every single time.
There are _MUCH_ worse rumours being spread by tech "journalists" without a single hint of rationale, let alone confirmation.